Of Seduction and Bets
by OlyveTheOctoPus
Summary: Ally Dawson is stuck writing crappy self-help and lame guide articles for a magazine company. Fed up, she confronts her boss, demanding to let her write more substantial articles. Her boss strikes a deal: If Ally can successfully revive an article from the 90s, then she'll get the transfer. Auslly AU.


**Story: Of Seduction and Bets (AKA How To Seduce A Guy In Ten Days)  
Rating: Mid T (Might become M at some point)  
Full Summary: Based on How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days (but not quite the same haha so don't expect too many similarities). Since college, Ally always wanted to write about animals and endangered species for a magazine company. But she's stuck in a small job at _The Natural Mind _magazine company writing self-help and guide articles such as how to properly fold laundry to prevent wrinkles and how to add the perfect amount of spice to your pumpkin pie. Fed up, one day she confronts her boss demanding to let her write more substantial or meaningful articles for the magazine. Her boss strikes a deal: If Ally can successfully revive an article from the 90s, then she'll get the transfer. And thus begins Ally's quest to seduce a guy in just ten days.**

**A/N: Got this idea. And it wouldn't leave my mind. And now I MUST write it. So I did :)  
**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Austin and Ally does not belong to me and I am merely using the characters for my own entertainment.**

* * *

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Ally groaned and rolled over, hitting the snooze button on her alarm clock once again. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness for the past twenty minutes and wasn't sure how many times she had hit the snooze button now.

She yanked her eye mask off her face and looked through bleary eyes at the electric red numbers of her digital alarm clock.

"Huh... It's 9:00…"

She settled back into her covers.

_9:00 am, huh…?_

_Wait._

"I'm going to be late!"

Ally jumped out of her bed and rushed to get ready for work. She had been up all night putting the finishing touches on an article and went to bed in the wee hours of the morning. She slipped on the first thing she could see on her chair, put on some sandals and beat it out of her apartment.

Checking her phone, she saw that she only had two text messages from Trish.

_Lunch at the usual?_

And then another.

_You pumped for today? Good luck girl. :)_

She sighed in relief. So far so good. There weren't thirty thousand missed calls which meant she was still in the green. But that didn't mean she had time to dawdle. Descending the complex's stairs two at a time, she came to her bike and unlocked it, getting ready to hop on.

And then she realized what she was wearing. It was a short and tight royal blue bodycon dress that she tended to reserve for nights out.

"Crap! Why didn't I look first?!"

She couldn't show up to work looking like this! And late to boot. What would people think? And there was no way she could ride a bike in this dress without everyone seeing her underwear. But then again, she didn't have time to go back inside and change.

"Oh what the hell."

She climbed on and took care to pull it down as far as she could. If she pedaled fast enough and got to the building fast enough, less people would see her underwear.

She took off and took crazy risks to get there on time. She crossed full intersections, mentally apologizing to the honking cars. At least there was a shortcut through the park to get to the other side of town where her office building was. And it definitely helped.

Ally got to work in record time. She dragged her bike through the lobby and hopped onto an already crowded elevator before it could close. The other patrons gave her dirty looks from having to be squished against the wall to avoid colliding with her bike. She checked her watch. 9:31.

At last the elevator came to the ninth floor, and she got off, taking a deep breath and trying to quell her nerves. She was sure her hair was all over the place, not to mention how red she was from the amount of energy she had exerted to get to work quickly.

"Looking good Dawson." Someone wolf whistled.

"Late night last night, Ally?" Someone else teased.

She ignored them and hurried along inside, hoping to God that Leila had not noticed her absence yet. She couldn't very well ask if Leila was mad at her.

Putting her bike against the wall near the mail room, she power walked to her desk, ignoring people's scandalous looks and whispering. This was the first time she had ever shown up late. And looking like fresh sex to boot. She didn't doubt that she would be the center of the office gossip for a week.

She plopped down at her desk and used her spare brush and small mirror to fix her hair into a somewhat tolerable style, though she didn't have time to calm the extreme waves in her hair. She yanked open her drawer and pulled out her transfer document.

"Okay Ally. This is it. Be brave."

She stood up, pulled her dress as far down as it could go without revealing her cleavage, and marched determinately to her boss's large glass office, overlooking the gorgeous view of the Miami skyline. She knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Hey Leila? Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure kiddo. Take a seat. By the way, I love that article you wrote, 'How To Make Sure Pineapple Upside Downs Come Out… Upside Down.' Great stuff."

Ally laughed nervously, "You did? That's… uh, great."

"I've got another project for you." Leila put her hands in front of herself dramatically, "How To Eat A Cheeseburger Without Getting It All Over Yourself' or 'How To Look Cute Eating A Sloppy Joe'. How does that sound, Dawson?"

Ally cringed. The thought of writing an article like that made her sweat. She never wrote articles she couldn't do herself. And Ally was a vegetarian. The thought of having to ingest meat made her sick to her stomach.

"Actually, Leila… That's what I wanted to talk to you about." She steeled her nerves. "I... I don't want to write self-help articles anymore."

Leila's perfect brow rose, and she rested her chin on her palm, "Oh? Then what _do_ you want to write, Dawson?" She asked calmly.

Ally handed Leila her transfer form, silently hoping she wouldn't tear it up in her face. Leila wasn't the most reasonable boss. Or nicest one for that matter. She was a very cutthroat business woman. It had taken _years_ for Ally to get on her good side, and she was hoping all the good points she'd accumulated over the years were enough for Leila to consider her request.

"I would like to transfer to the natural life and animal department of the company. Not that I don't like working here. It's just… you know… six years ago, when I first came here, you said hard work could get promotions. But I've been writing the same articles since college. And I think it's time for a change."

Leila rubbed her chin in silence as she read Ally's request with an expressionless face. Ally swallowed deeply, her nerves growing with each agonizing second that passed, and Leila still did not respond. She wrung her hands together in her lap and occupied her wait by staring at Leila's various wall postings for award winning articles for the magazine.

"How long have you wanted to transfer?"

"Well, to be honest, for six years."

"Tell you what. I've got an idea." She stuck the transfer form into her desk's file cabinet and pulled out an article from the huge manila folder sitting behind her plush leather chair. "This folder is full of How-To article ideas and fails." She flipped through the stack.

Ally's eyes widened unbelievably, "Were you going to make me write _all_ of those?"

"Of course." Leila smiled warmly, "You're very good at what you do, Ally. Over the years, you've cut this folder down by a lot. In fact, I used to have two of them."

"Well… thanks." It was odd to get such high praise from Leila.

Leila shook her head and handed Ally a couple pages from the folder, "It'll be hard to find another How-To girl with your skills. Read it."

"How to seduce a guy in ten days." Ally read, "Make a man absolutely want you by following these simple ten steps in only ten days…" Ally's face curled in disgust. The article looked pretty bad.

"This was written for the magazine in 1992. The goal was to make a man putty in women's hands. It had a very negative reaction back then. You can probably imagine why, right?" Leila got a calculating look on her face, "I want you to make it popular. Transform this article. Make it shine. Use your powers of the pen."

"Leila that's crazy! You want me to make an article that no one likes popular?"

Leila looked at her perfectly manicured nails, "Take it or leave it Dawson. Although, if you do leave it, I can almost guarantee you that you'll be stuck in this department writing self-help for the rest of your time here."

Ally's eyes widened. So basically she wasn't giving her a choice?

"And what happens if I do take it?"

"Of course, you'll have to get someone to actually _use _the steps and document it to show it works." Ally recoiled slightly when an almost evil grin appeared on Leila's face, "If it succeeds, I'll allow the transfer. If not… Dawson?" Ally held her breath. "Your ass is _fired_."

Ally's jaw dropped, "What?!"

Leila's grin grew, "Well I can't just make the transfer easy for you, can I? It looks bad if I just let everyone transfer whenever and wherever they want."

"But fired?!"

Leila smiled comfortingly, "I have full faith in you Dawson. I don't think you'd fail. But regardless, I don't just _give_ positions away for free. Prove yourself with this final article."

Ally didn't really know what to say. She was in shock.

"I'll give you until tomorrow to make your decision. Oh and could you pick up Lindsay's draft and take it to the fifth floor please?"

Ally got the sense that she was dismissed when Leila turned back to her computer and began furiously typing on the keyboard. She stood up, almost in a daze and walked out of the office, unable to believe what had just happened. So she could either drop the idea of a transfer forever or take the ridiculous article and turn it into something women would want to read. And if she failed she'd be fired?!

~.~.~

"Fired?!"

"Fired! What am I gonna do Trish? If I get fired how will I pay rent? I still have college loans I'm trying to pay off."

"Ally, why would you make such a crazy deal?!" Trish exclaimed.

"I don't know! I just wanted to write better stuff so badly! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!"

"What did you think was going to happen? Leila just miraculously hands you the job?"

"Psh, no… Yeah…" Ally fake cried, "I thought she'd just accept it easily! Now I need to find someone to do the steps of the article for me, a guy for her to use, _and_ find a way to make it sound fun and interesting! And if I don't, bye bye work!"

Trish sighed, "Well how about Cassidy? She'd be up for something like this."

Ally shook her head, "She can't. She went to LA last week with her band to try to hook up a record deal."

"Then Kira?"

"Kira got back together with her boyfriend again. Can _you_ do it Trish?"

"No way. I want to help you girl, but my feminine wiles are not going to be wasted on a project like this."

Ally gave her a weird look. Trish was one of the most unfeminine women she knew. "Feminine wiles my ass. Trish what do I do?! Urgh… maybe I should just give up and write How-To's for the rest of my life."

She slammed her head down on the table, bemoaning her fate and the bowls and plates clattered loudly. Her arm accidentally knocked her pen to the ground. Ally was just about to bend down to pick it up when someone else did.

"Did you drop this?" A deep voice asked.

Trish and Ally stared up at him, completely enamored by his good looks. Her jaw almost dropped. He was absolutely gorgeous. He had honey brown eyes and shaggy beach blonde hair, tousled to perfection. He was wearing a business suit, but even through the suit, Ally noticed his broad shoulders and chiseled body. Sweet nuggets! He looked like sex on a stick.

"I-I…" She took a deep breath and cleared her throat, "Why yes I did, good sir. Thank you."

Trish kicked her under the table and gave her a WTF look. She was doing that weird fake English accent thing she did whenever she was nervous! At least it was better than how she used to chew on her hair in high school, but the fake accent, if left untreated, would eventually degrade into some horrid hybrid mix of a Scottish, English, and French accent combined.

He chuckled, "Cute."

He walked off then, and Ally stared after him in a complete daze. She had never seen such a good looking guy in Miami before. Where the hell had he been hiding?!

"Ally, you're drooling."

"Trish. Did I just die and go to heaven? Pinch me."

Trish rolled her eyes and pinched her hard. Ally yelped.

"Ow!"

"Ally, wake up! He left you his number!"

"What?" When had he left his number? She read the little note by the phone number. "If you want your pen back, call me." Her jaw dropped, "How dare he?! It wasn't his pen to take in the first place. I'm calling him right now!"

She started to dial the number, but Trish snatched her cellphone out of her hand. "Urgh Ally, wake up! This guy wants you to _call_ him."

"And? He took my pen! I have half a mind to call his mother for his thievery."

"No Ally. Look, I've got a great idea. You need a guy to use for the article, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"And you need to find a girl willing to follow the steps, right?"

Ally nodded slowly, starting to suspect what Trish was trying to say.

"So why don't you do the steps yourself? You already found a guy! And he's obviously interested. All you have to do now is seduce him using your article's tips. And once he's putty in your hands, you win! You get a new job _and _you have some delicious eye-candy to play with. It's a win-win."

It was a good idea, no doubt. But…"I'm not sure Trish… How would I be able to seduce the guy? I can count on one hand the number of guys I've been with…"

Trish cringed. That was true. In high school, guys never really paid attention to Ally. She'd always had a great body that attracted men, but the relationships would never work out because Ally had a tendency to behave weirdly around attractive people. After college was no better. She'd been on a lot of dates, but never really any successful ones. But then again, it's not like she'd have to maintain contact afterward, right?

"You could just play the part? Follow the rules exactly and don't let him catch a glimpse of the real you at all. Cuz that would be bad."

Ally's eyes narrowed, "Wow thanks for making me sound like some mega loser, Trish."

"C'mon Ally. You know I mean that in the nicest way possible. But I think that would work. Just pretend to be someone different, you know? You're playing a part. Play the part like a pro."

"Well… you do have a point. It's not like I'll _have_ to talk to him after. But I kind of feel bad taking advantage of a guy like that."

Trish gesticulated wildly, "Feel bad? Did you get a good look at this dude?! He looks like _he_ probably takes advantage of a million girls! You'd be getting payback for all the girls he's wronged."

"I don't know about that…" Ally sighed. What choice did she have anyway? Leila wanted her decision by tomorrow. And Ally knew she absolutely didn't want to spend the rest of her time at Natural Mind writing crummy How-To's. "Alright Trish. I'll do it."

Trish squealed and clapped her hands, "Oh my God! This is gonna be so much fun!"

Ally sure as hell hoped so, because she couldn't help but feel like she was in way over her head.

~.~.~

"And then she totally flipped and told me to get out Dez. I tried to apologize but she wasn't having any of it."

Dez shrugged, catching the mini basketball they were throwing around, "Well, you _did_ kiss another girl-"

"I apologized for it."

"-In _front_ of her."

"I still think she overreacted." Austin shrugged, leaning back against his desk chair and propping his legs onto the oak desk. "She's playing all hard to get now and ignoring my texts. But I know she's going to come crawling back in a couple hours. She's never been able to resist."

Dez rolled his eyes, "I just don't get the women you date dude. You treat them like shit, yet they still come crawling back."

"What can I say?" Austin smirked smugly, putting his hands behind his head, "I'm irresistible."

"And kind of a dick." Dez added, smirking.

"So I've been told."

His phone plinked, notifying him he had a text message. He checked it and saw that Brooke had texted him, telling him to come to the coffee shop on the corner of his office building. "That's Brooke. See? Crawling back."

"Doesn't she usually call every time you guys break up? Or she shows up in your office?"

Come to think of it, that _was_ true. She had only sent him a simple text message this time. Weird.

Austin shrugged, "She probably got lazy."

Dez shook his head, "I doubt it Austin. I _know_ women. A clear difference in behaviour usually means a clear difference in mindset."

"Since when do you know women, Dez?"

"It's in their eyes."

Austin snorted and picked up his suit jacket. "I've gotta go to her right now. Could you tell the boss that I'll be back after lunch for our product meeting?"

Dez saluted him with two fingers, and Austin took off. He wasn't particularly _that_ interested in getting Brooke back. Truth be told, she wasn't intriguing enough for him and in his opinion, she was only mediocre in bed. But Brooke had great connections and what guy wouldn't want a super hot model to flaunt on his arm?

He got to the coffee shop and found Brooke sitting at a small table in the corner sipping a Caramel Cappuccino. She was picking her nails in disinterest when he walked up to her. She took another quiet sip before finally looking up at him. Austin gave her his most charming smile and sat in the chair across from her.

_Huh. That's weird. _He thought. _She's usually all over me when we reunite._

She rose an eyebrow expectantly. "Well Austin? Do you have anything to say?"

"Once again, I'm sorry for not paying attention to you at your work party."

She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance, "And?"

"And sorry about kissing that European model. But c'mon. It didn't mean anything. We were just goofing off. And we were totally drunk."

She sniffed indifferently and took another sip of her drink.

"What will it take for you to take me back, babe?"

She stared at him for a moment, contemplating something. "Have you ever been in love, Austin?"

He snorted, "Of course not." After watching his parent's marriage fall apart, he had vowed to never end up like them. And what better way to avoid that than by not falling in love? "Love doesn't exist."

Brooke smirked, "Then here's what you'll do: I want you to meet a girl."

"What?" He rose a brow, "You know, the whole point of me asking for you to take me back is because I want to be with _you_."

She rolled her eyes, "You barely even know me. We've been dating for a year, and you still don't know what my favorite past time is."

"Sure I do. You like to get manicures right?"

"_Every_ woman likes manicures. I'm talking about my real interest."

"… You like to go shopping?"

"Wrong." She deadpanned. "So here are my conditions if you want me to take you back. I want you to spend some time with a girl. Get to know her. _Really_ get to know her. But don't fall in love with her."

"That's all I have to do?" he asked incredulously, "Spend some time with a girl without falling for her?"

She nodded, a secretive little smirk on her face. If he honestly thought it was that easy, then he had another think coming. Austin never was one to really try to get to know the people he would date. And that would be his downfall. She was sure of it. He'd fall for the girl for sure and when he did, Brooke would be right there. Brooke would reveal everything to the girl. She would destroy Austin. He'd strung her along with no regard for her feelings for so long, using her however he wished and using her connections to rise up on the social and professional ladder. But no more. She was going to crush him. By starting with his heart. Austin Monica Moon had wronged her for the last time.

He scoffed. "That shouldn't be too hard. Girls are easy. She'll be putty in my hands before no time."

Brooke smirked. "If you think you're so invincible. Fine."

"So if I succeed?"

"I'll take you back Moon. But if you don't, consider our relationship over for good."

"So any girl will do?" He would just pick some heinous troll and not have to worry about falling for her. He had specific tastes after all. Troll, was not one of them.

"Oh not at all. I've already picked her out." Brooke had overheard two women talking about some crazy article that one of them would have to write as she had walked by their table earlier. And from there, the plan had just formed in her mind.

"Who?"

Brooke pointed to the girl. "Her. The one with the doe eyes in the blue dress."

He turned and was rather surprised to see she was actually pretty hot. Her ombre hair tumbled down her back in delicious waves. She had big brown eyes and a cute, unassuming smile. She was wearing a tight blue dress that ended mid-thigh and revealed long creamy legs. The dress clung to her like a second skin, showing off her shapely curves, wide hips and sexy ass. What great luck. Not only was this going to be one of the easiest challenges in his life, but he got to spend his time with an attractive girl. He watched her gather her coffee from the clerk and walk back to her table, deeper inside the shop.

He turned back to Brooke with a smug expression, "This'll be an easy win."

"Careful tiger." Brooke drawled, "She could be dangerous."

"My ass." He stood up and walked toward the table he had seen her go to, trying to figure out the best way to approach her. He could use a cheesy pick-up line and charm his way in. Or he could be direct in his approach and ask her out immediately. But he didn't know her. He couldn't tell what type of woman she was, and he didn't want to risk turning her off. His lines worked on some people. But not everyone. His saving grace came in the form of her dropping her pen on the floor when she suddenly dropped her head onto the table.

He suavely walked over and picked it up off the ground.

"Did you drop this?" Austin gave her his most charming smile, knowing the effect it had on certain women.

She stared up at him with her beautiful doe brown eyes, looking incredibly surprised and charmed. He had nailed it. She was already putty in his hands, and he hadn't even used any of his techniques yet. There was no way he would fall in love with her. She'd probably be a pushover. Just like every super hot girl in this world.

While she and her friend were busy ogling him, he scrawled a small message onto her open notepad. He would see what type of girl she was based off of how soon she called him. The sooner she called him, the easier she would be.

"I-I…" She cleared her throat, "Why yes I did, good sir. Thank you."

Her fake accent was odd, but Austin found himself smiling at her oddness. It made her more attractive. Especially from his angle where he could easily see down the top of her dress. A pink bra.

Austin chuckled. "Cute."

He turned away from their table and left, tossing up her pen nonchalantly. He headed back over to Brooke's table. She was waiting, watching him with baited breath and narrowed eyes.

"Well?"

"Well, now I just wait for her to call me. And then I win your little game."

Brooke stood up and gathered her purse, her coffee long finished. "Well then Austin. I look forward to seeing you in love."

"Not a chance Brooke."

They shook hands and left the coffee shop, going their separate ways.

Austin headed back to his office with a smirk on his face. This was going to be fun. He had this in the bag.

* * *

**You get a cookie if you can find what the "Phrase of the Chapter" is! (hint: i probably used it three or more times... urgh -_-lll)**

**Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! More to come soon :)  
**


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